Trevor St Baker, the coal entrepreneur who has made a squillion out of the privatisation of the NSW government’s coal generators, is sensing new opportunities with the Morrison government, its fascination with “fair dinkum” power and its antipathy to renewables.

St Baker is likely positioning himself for one or more of several opportunities: massive government funding for a new coal generator; government handouts to existing coal generators (such as his jointly owned facility at Vales Point, which he and Brian Flannery bought for $1 million); or restraints on renewables.

It does seem to be a day for de-bunking. It wasn’t planned this way but we also address some of the ridiculous claims made by economist Judith Sloan in her latest attack on renewables in The Australian, and in our latest Energy Insiders podcast we interview Simon Holmes à Court from the Energy Transition Hub about his efforts to debunk renewable energy myths.

“It is important to note that we constrain all types of generation throughout the grid for system security purposes, not just wind.”

Indeed, coal and gas have to be curtailed – and quite often. Usually this is voluntary because the coal generators, while busy during the day, have little to do at night, because everyone is asleep, so they wind back their output.

There is also the need for AEMO to intervene regularly and force curtailment, such as when it needs to constrain the limits on the interconnectors for various reasons, and this often includes thermal generation.

AEMO also intervenes in the market to ensure there is enough gas generation on line to support wind and solar, particularly as the share of renewables jumps above 100 per cent of demand, as it is doing more often. Even then, the amount of gas capacity required is gradually being reduced.

“The point we’d like to make is that we impose constraints not just on wind and not just on South Australia,” the spokesperson says.

The advantage of coal and gas generators being curtailed is that they save on fuel costs. Wind and solar farms have zero fuel costs, and most of their costs come in the upfront capital spend on the installation of the facility. So they usually make sure they can produce as much as they can.

At least the AFR did quote an expert from the International Energy Agency, who said it was “simply nonsensical economically” to turn off a resource that has zero marginal cost to make room for one that does have a cost.

“With the low costs of wind and solar it is clear that their long-term cost optimal share is much, much higher than what is currently the case in Australia,” the expert told the AFR.

“So the question for an economically optimal system in the future is not how much wind and solar you can get rid off but rather what assets can operate profitably in such a market environment and what can current assets to remain profitable in such a market environment.

Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of Renew Economy, and is also the founder of One Step Off The Grid and founder/editor of The Driven. Giles has been a journalist for 35 years and is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review.

Giles Parkinson is founder and editor of Renew Economy, and is also the founder of One Step Off The Grid and founder/editor of The Driven. Giles has been a journalist for 35 years and is a former business and deputy editor of the Australian Financial Review.